'Ammaestramenti e ricordi', by Isabella Sori

Alessandria, Italy, 1628: a young woman, Isabella Sori, publishes her only known work, consisting of three different texts, at a time when war and the plague are looming. Written in the form of letters by a mother to her daughter, her Ammaestramenti e ricordi is a treatise on the ideal conduct of women in everyday life which draws from an impressive array of sources and displays an unusual level of erudition for the author’s sex and age. Attacked for her literary enterprise by unidentified malicious detractors, Isabella Sori is forced to defend herself (and the female sex) against their criticisms: her Difese still preserves her unfiltered indignation. A Panegirico of Alessandria, a cross between an idealized portrait and a historical document of the city, concludes the work. Amid questions of authorship and attribution, Sori’s work, with its immediacy and liveliness offersprecious insight into the life and customs of a long-lost era, as well as a poignant testimony of a local ‘battle of the pens’ waged by the author with pride and dignity. This rich edition, comprehensively annotated and providing a meticulous reconstruction of her wide-ranging sources, restores Sori’s rare writings to the public once more, after nearly four hundred years of oblivion.

Contents include: a historical introduction to the author, her times, and her work; a note on the text; the Italian text with notes; a glossary; an appendix; a bibliography; an index of names.

Helena Sanson is Reader in Italian Language, Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Clare College.